Phantom Philes: Phantoms-Centric Clark Cup Final Preview
Published on April 27, 2010 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Youngstown Phantoms News Release
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - These are the Phantom Philes, a weekly comprehensive look at Youngstown's stop on the road to the National Hockey League.
At this most-crucial point of the USHL season, the Youngstown Phantoms join 11 other league clubs as interested spectators as the Green Bay Gamblers and the Fargo Force collide in the Clark Cup Final. The upcoming best-of-five series for the USHL's postseason crown begins Friday night.
But, like the other teams not fortunate enough to be part of the battle for the Clark Cup, the Phantoms can claim to possess fuller insight on the championship clash than most, considering they squared off with each of the two finalists at least four times in the regular season.
"Green Bay has been playing a great team game all season long," said Phantoms Head Coach/GM Curtis Carr. "For Fargo, the experience of being [in the Final] last year is valuable. It should be a close series and fun to follow."
For Youngstown, Green Bay proved to be the more formidable opponent of the two finalists, as the Anderson Cup-winning Gamblers claimed the season series four games to one en route to accumulating a league-best 95 points with their 45-10-5 record.
The Phantoms actually landed the first blow against their East Division rivals, squeezing out a 3-2 home decision Nov. 11 in the initial meeting despite only launching nine shots, the lowest game total for a team in the 30-year history of the USHL. Goalie Matt Mahalak earned the improbable win, his third of the season, stopping 33 shots.
After that historic victory for the Purple and Orange, coach Jon Cooper's Gamblers upped the ante, outscoring Youngstown 18-9 in sweeping the final four get-togethers of the campaign. Despite the discrepancy in results, the Phantoms hung tough in forcing division-winning Green Bay to eke out a pair of one-goal wins along the way.
"[Green Bay's] Steve Summerhays is a goalie who can play under pressure situations," Carr said. "Cooper's a good coach and has the championship reputation, but so does [Fargo's] Steve Johnson."
Much like their series with Green Bay, the Phantoms' four-game set against Fargo got off to a promising start. In this case, it was a two-game weekend sweep at the Urban Plains Center in North Dakota that jumpstarted Youngstown. Brett Gensler collected two goals in each of the wins over the two-time West Division playoff champion Force during that Halloween weekend.
Unfortunately, the seesaw would tilt in the other direction in early 2010, as Fargo pulled out a pair of hotly-contested wins at Covelli Centre by scores of 4-2 and 3-2. Andrew Lamont's two-goal effort nearly brought the Phantoms back in the latter contest on Jan. 9.
After finishing with the No. 2 seed in the West Division, the Force exterminated the third-ranked Sioux Falls Stampede in three straight games, advancing to an intense matchup with the West's regular-season champions, the Omaha Lancers. Following a Game Four loss last Thursday on home ice, Fargo made the most of its second opportunity to eliminate the Lancers, prevailing 5-2 Saturday in a decisive Game Five at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.
Just like the Force, who fell to Indiana in four games in last spring's Clark Cup Final, the Gamblers also swept their first-round opponent, the Waterloo Black Hawks. Green Bay then blew past the defending champion Ice in four games to grab the East's playoff laurels despite dropping Game One.
"It doesn't surprise me at all to see these two teams advance to the Final," said Phantoms Assistant GM/Director of Player Personnel Jason Koehler. "From what I saw Green Bay seemed to be the best team top-to-bottom this year. Fargo has a lot of veteran guys back and coach Johnson has a track record of success."
The Gamblers will be in search of their third Clark Cup in 16 years of existence, while the Force hope last season's playoff experience will help them graduate to the top of the league for the first time. Find out who will reign supreme by following the action at www.ushl.com!
PHEELS LIKE THE PHIRST TIME:
Help the offseason go faster by looking back at the Phantoms' first season in the USHL. This week, Youngstown makes the 16-hour drive to Fargo for a weekend series with the Force:
Friday, October 30, 2009: YOUNGSTOWN 3, FARGO 1
FARGO, N.D. - A return to the road plus two more strikes from Big Goal Brett equaled a winning formula for the Phantoms.
Brett Gensler broke a third-period tie with his second goal of the game and goaltender Matt Mahalak stopped 20 of 21 shots as the Youngstown Phantoms put a four-game winless streak to an end with a 3-1 win over the Fargo Force Friday night at the Urban Plains Center.
Gensler, who leads Youngstown with five goals in eight games, deflected a wrist shot by defenseman Andrej Sustr between Force goalie Cody Campbell's legs and into the net with 12:57 to go with the Phantoms on the power play. He also tallied late in the second off a Brian Dowd feed to counteract Johnnie Searfoss' man-advantage marker and tie the game 1-1 heading into the final frame.
Defenseman Scott Mayfield iced the Phantoms' third win of the season with a unique shorthanded goal that caromed off the side glass and into an empty net. With Youngstown's Taylor Holstrom in the penalty box, Mayfield gathered a loose puck behind his own goal and rifled a clearing attempt off the window that eventually skidded into the goal vacated by Campbell, who made 20 saves in the loss.
Mayfield's clinching goal came just seconds after Ryan Jasinsky's roughing minor expired, along with a Fargo 5-on-3 advantage that lasted 39 seconds. The Force came into the game with the league's best power play, converting at a 26.5 percent rate, but the Phantoms killed off six of seven Force power trips - including the pivotal late two-man power play.
The Phantoms (3-4-1) and the Force (4-4-0) will renew acquaintances Saturday night at 8:05 Eastern time, 7:05 Central. Youngstown is now 3-1-1 on the road while Fargo falls to 1-2-0 at home.
An unfortunate streak continued for Youngstown with 2:29 gone in the second period when Fargo's Searfoss tossed in his fifth of the season with the Force on the power play. The Phantoms have now surrendered a man-advantage goal in each of their first eight games this season.
Almost immediately after Searfoss' icebreaking goal, Youngstown went right back on the attack, nearly tying the score on several occasions but constantly being turned away at the doorstep by Fargo netminder Campbell. Finally, on the Phantoms' 12th and final shot of the middle period, Dowd deftly set up Gensler for a tip-in that squeezed by Campbell with 29 seconds remaining before the second intermission.
Go to http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid1048769 for full box score.
United States Hockey League Stories from April 27, 2010
- Omaha's Hamburg & Youngstown's Mahalak Share USHL Scholar-Athlete Award - USHL
- Arnold Wins Hammer Award - Waterloo Black Hawks
- Waterloo's Derek Arnold Named Recipient Of USHL Curt Hammer Award - USHL
- Phantom Philes: Phantoms-Centric Clark Cup Final Preview - Youngstown Phantoms
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